A gift within

A woman was wearing a piece of jewelry with a precious stone as she was walking down the street of a large city, and she met a hungry traveler. He asked her for some money for food, then noticed her jewelry and asked for it. Without hesitation, she took it off and gave it to him. The traveler left happily, for she knew the stone was worth more money than the money she had been about to hand him.

Hours later, the man went looking for the woman to return the stone and found her in a restaurant.

He gave her back the precious stone and said, “I’ve been thinking about the value of this stone, but can you give me something even more precious, valuable and almost priceless?’

The woman asked, “What is that?” The man replied, “Give me what you have within that enabled you to give me that stone.”

The woman replied, “I just have a little faith and wisdom to know that love, care and forgiveness are the most precious gifts, and so I now share those with you.”

This man, like Solomon in our first reading, makes a wise decision, choosing wisdom over power or riches or a great stone piece of jewelry. Solomon, the man, and now we, are challenged to know things are temporary and wisdom is lasting.

In the Gospel, Jesus teaches the rich man the same lesson, noting the incompatibility of wealth and the kingdom of God. How do your temporary possessions keep you from practicing love, care and forgiveness that come from deep within the heart?

Throughout most of the Old Testament, material wealth and worldly power were seen as blessings from God. However, the author of the Book of Wisdom in the Scriptures puts the spirit of wisdom before these things. Wealth, Possessions, Power are transitory. The ability to understand truly and judge rightly are lasting. Like the rich man in the Gospel, we may not think of ourselves as rich, but most of us have nicer homes, better-stocked pantries, refrigerators and full clothes closets more than most people in the world, and we need to stop, know and realize what really are our possessions and never stop working for heavenly treasures.

It is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. We are called to pray and act with wisdom at least a few times this week as men and women of faith, to show that gift is alive within us. Jesus’ hope for all is to make the right decisions from within the corners of the heart concerning love, care and forgiveness for this leads to a wisdomfilled life.

Wisdom can only be found, planted, nurtured and harvested from the heart. It cannot be manufactured. Real wisdom often comes from the lips of the young like the following story. A grandfather said to his little 8-year-old granddaughter. “I’ll give you a dollar if you can tell me where God is.” The wise little girl said, “Gramp, I’ll give you five dollars if you tell me where God isn’t.”